Feb. 16, 2015
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Indiana State Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- Camyn Boone (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in two starts last week while scoring 14-of-23 (.609) field goal attempts with 6 offensive boards. He led MSU in scoring (14) and rebounding (6) against No. 13 Northern Iowa on Sunday.
- Missouri State's 4-for-10 effort from 3-point range against UNI on Sunday was its best percentage effort from bonus distance since making 10-of-19 (.526) treys at Tulsa on Dec. 17.
- Indiana State has not swept the season series with Missouri State since 2008-09. The Sycamores were 71-56 winners over the Bears on Jan. 7 in Terre Haute. MSU is 4-2 all-time against Illinois State at JQH Arena.
- Austin Ruder (Jr., Nixa, Mo.) was 2-for-4 from long range in Sunday's game -- his first game with multiple 3-pointers since Jan. 18 (8 games). He posted 13 points, was 5-for-5 at the foul line and snagged 5 rebounds.
- Tyler McCullough's (So., Fayetteville, Ark.) 31 blocked shots this season are the most by any MSU player since Kyle Weems swatted 33 shots in 2010-11. Weems also blocked 37 as a sophomore in 2009-10. The only other sophomore players since 2000 with 30+ blocks are Drew Richards with 34 in 2005-06 and Scott Brakebill with 34 in 1999-00.
- Over the last seven seasons, only Kyle Weems (2009-10) with 18 and Wade Knapp (2008-09) with 17 have had more dunks than Camyn Boone's season total of 14 this winter.
- This is Paul Lusk's 150th game as a head coach. He is 58-91 in 5 seasons at Dubuque (1 yr.) and MSU (4 yrs).
- Christian Kirk (Sr., Springfield, Mo.) needs 7 points to become the sixth player to record 400 points at JQH Arena. In
- Indiana State junior Devonte Brown ranks 22nd nationally in FT attempts (173) and is shooting .647 from the line.
- The Bears' 10 personal fouls Sunday against UNI tied a JQH Arena record and were the fewest by MSU under Lusk..
The Bears own a 39-24 series lead against Indiana State in a rivalry that dates back to the 1951-52 season. MSU is 26-5 at home all-time against the Sycamores, including a 4-2 mark at JQH Arena.
In the most-recent meeting between the clubs, the Bears got 14 points from Austin Ruder, who made 8-of-8 freet throws, and 11 points each from Dorrian Williams and Marcus Marshall in a 71-56 loss at Hulman Center in Terre Haute (1/7/15). Justin Gant notched 24 points for ISU on 9-of-13 shooting with 6 rebounds, while Devonte Brown added 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 56-68 (.452) in his fourth season at MSU and 58-91 (.389) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 28-40 in MVC games (19-15 at home, 9-25 on the road), 2-3 in MVC Tournament games and 26-25 against all non-conference foes (17-8 at JQH Arena, 8-10 away and 1-7 at neutral sites). He is also 36-23 in all home games, 17-35 on the road, and 3-10 at neutral sites. Lusk is 3-4 against Indiana State, including a 2-1 mark at JQH Arena.
The 43-year-old Lusk took the reins as MSU's 17th head coach on April 1, 2011. He came to Springfield after seven seasons at Purdue (2004-11), including his last three as associate head coach there. Now in his 16th season in the coaching profession, Lusk has previous assistant coaching stops at Southwestern Illinois (1996-97), Missouri Southern (1999-2002) and Southern Illinois (2003-04) in addition to a one-year head coaching stint at (Div. III) Dubuque (2002-03). Lusk has played or coached in 10 NCAA Tournaments.
Last season, Lusk helped engineer the eighth-best turnaround in the Division I ranks as the Bears finished 20-13 and made an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Lusk finished third in the MVC Coach of the Year voting in 2014 and was a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award.
Coach Greg Lansing (South Dakota, 1990) has two starters and six lettermen back from a 23-11 MVC runner-up and NIT squad.
This winter, ISU is 4-6 in true road games. Khristian Smith (Jr., G/F) is posting 9.9 points and 4.5 rebounds, while Devonte Brown (Jr., F) leads the Sycamores with 13.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Freshman Brenton Scott (G) is posting 11.5 points with 49 3-pointers.
Northern Iowa (24-2, 13-1 MVC) rode the back of senior Seth Tuttle, who went 10-for-12 from the floor and scored a game-high 22 points, to lead the No. 13 Panthers past Missouri State, 68-57, here Sunday in Missouri Valley Conference play.
UNI earned its 13th straight victory with a fast start, making 8 of its first 10 shots and storming out to a 16-4 lead in the first five-and-a-half minutes. Ben Jacobson's club built its advantage to 22 points by the 6:07 mark of the opening period when Wyatt Lohaus dropped in the visitors' eighth trey of the half.
The Bears reeled off seven unanswered points from there to get within 35-20, but the Panthers called a timeout and responded with their own 7-0 outburst before halftime to lead 42-20 at the break.
Missouri State (9-17, 3-11) outscored UNI 37-26 in the second half and fired an even 11-for-22 from the field over the final 20 minutes to get as close as 11 down the stretch.
But the game was in hand long before then. With 6:40 remaining, Deon Mitchell's third 3-pointer of the night - and UNI's 12th - gave the Panthers a 64-39 lead.
The Bears did finish strong, closing out the contest on an 18-4 run with Camyn Boone scoring 6 points, Loomis Gerring posting 4 and Shawn Roundtree adding 4 in the closing moments.
Boone finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds, while from Austin Ruder pitched in 13 points and 5 rebounds to help the home side. Roundtree had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench to help the Bears' reserves outscore the Panthers' subs by a 23-19 margin.
UNI also got double-figure scoring efforts from Jeremy Morgan and Mitchell with 11 points apiece with Mitchell also dishing out a game-high 7 assists.
The Panthers fired home 27-of-54 shots (.500) and 12-of-26 (.462) from beyond the arc while converting both free throws they took. UNI also finished with a 28-24 rebounding advantage with the Bears matching them, 14-14, on the glass in the second half.
Northern Iowa finished with just 8 offensive rebounds and 5 second-chance points after collecting 18 offensive caroms in the last meeting between the teams on Jan. 18.
Missouri State finished 20-for-46 (.435) from the field overall and 4-of-10 (.400) from bonus distance with 13 makes in 17 attempts (.765) at the foul line. The Bears had just two second-half turnovers but finished with 10 for the game to match UNI's total for the afternoon.
Despite dropping their 10th game in 11 outings, the Bears had some impressive moments: Ruder had his first multiple 3-pointer game since Jan. 18; injured fourth-year players Dorrian Williams and Christian Kirk were both returned to action; and MSU showed resolve down the stretch allowing the Panthers just three field goals for essentially the final 9 minutes.
Missouri State travels to Drake for a 1 p.m., tipoff Sunday on ESPN3
